Those white windows look lovely, I am a big fan of the old style. We are lucky here in Berlin to have a lot of these original windows in the older buildings as opposed to the ugly new double glazed ones. Although, they are a lot more effective with keeping the cold out. What did you go for in the end?

Thanks

Guy

I am desperate to weather seal the place before the winter.
I am returning at the end of September for just one month.
Best regards Roger

Thanks dear!(if I may?)

I just saw one of the videos from You blog.

Expect it to be from inside Your house.
With that traditional cooking/fireplace I saw , (although it is very good in summer), You should have a serious draft.

I think it would be simple to manufacture a remote mechanism allowing You to close(or adjust) the chimney when not used in cold weather.
- It will not help insulating the house as effectively as a spacesuit If You have a big open hole on top

But do not go blind, You can not seal it without adequate ventilation – or humidity/fungus will increase.

Would be nice to visit, and see it for my own, if I ever come by..

Warm Hug

About the windows:
I am quite handy and somewhat knowledgeable in paint and adding extra glass to windows for insulation. (I always start itching to jump over there and give you a hand

Paint – do not strip it, if it is in acceptable condition,it is a monstrously time-consuming work! And You may become desillusioned of the resulting aspect of the naked wood – windows for naked wood frames need to be build with care for the aesthetic look. So there is a reason they are painted, should You opt for removing paint, search google for removing with the aid of an infra-red radiator – much less danger of destruction and effective, as some pro’s claim in Sweden..

You will have to check thoroughly what kind of paint is in the frame before painting it over with a new layer, since many paints are not compatible over long time and can make the underlying coat peel off.
- If You manage to investigate what kind of paint is on the frames now, You will have no problem finding a compatible coating for long time stability

That was about paint!

Now for insulation:

I am quite biased against making a box adding a extra window inside – since it is: 1- bulky and awkward to open ( a typical qick and dirty solution from around the 17th century if I am right)
- not optimally effective since it gives way too much room for air convection (that would be responsible for most of the heat transfer /or relative ineffectiveness in this case)

I propose that You look into making a small thin frame of wood aluminium , plastic – whatever you find and Suits You best. (there may well be prefabricated frame material specifically for this use, just cut and fit).

You should then measure the size to fit one big pane on the inside of your gorgeous windows.

The frame may be very thin and the distance between the glasses don’t need to be more then some millimetres ( to trap an hold the air still).

It should be easy to make it look as an integral part of the windows construction, looking like as it was always there originally.

Small ventilation holes or moisture traps still have to apply as written in the above posts (if You do not ask a Scandinavian or German/French/whatever firm, to make You a 3-layered custom sealed frame (may be worth searching, You could bump into a cheap occasion).

It is worth making the inner pane easy to open/remove for cleaning purposes and You could even go tricky an make the x-tra frame a double layered one – in this case the glass in the middle need only be the thinnest one available since it functions only as an air trap. And it should not add much thickness to it, since you only need some millimetres between the glasses.

I am an (ok, somewhat experienced but..still) layman on this and You may find better info about the optimum distance between panes etc.. I am open for more knowledge

Good Luck!

——–
I like the chateau windows, but they seem to be a bit big for a schist house: making holes big enough for them could require rebuilding walls, or the entire house. Plus boxing them will take you an age. If you can really get double-glazed windows with interior blinds for 300 euros a unit, I’d consider biting the bullet — when we got quotes for wooden windows for our ruin (in the Alto Alentejo just below Marvao), the unit amount was closer to 600 euros — and 800 for traditional chestnut ones. Even the ugly aluminium ones were 450 a pop.

For our project, the cheap option for wooden windows — based on a tip from a blog about renovating stone houses in the Dolomites (similar, simple houses to central Portugal schist and Alto Alentejo granite) — was to travel to the French DIY chain Bricodepot. The nearest branches to Portugal are in Spain in Toledo, Valladolid, Jerez — see http://www.bricodepot.es. Bricodepot sells mass-produced wooden windows. I’m not sure if you have standard size windows, but the sizes they come in are 50wx60h, 80wx80h, 80wx100h. They work out at a bargain 95-130 euros a unit and, with a little sanding here and there, don’t look half bad (much like the ones in your ‘aldeias de xisto’ photo actually). The single glazing isn’t ideal, but using the inside wooden blinds provides the insulation in winter, keeps out the sun in summer and will save us having to buy curtains (once our ruin becomes a house). We’ve spent the money we saved on the windows to buy high quality doors from a good local carpenter, and some Danish Solarventi heating panels for winter warmth.

P.S. Good luck with the renovation: ours is progressing at a rate 100% slower than a house we fixed up in Belgium, and 300% slower than one in Germany. We think they should put amphetamines alongside the fluoride in the water here!
P.P.S. If making the 4-hour trek to Bricodepot in a van, try to stock up on other building materials: they’re far cheaper than AKI, Maxmat and Portuguese builders’ merchants.